The Romney campaign announced the launch of Young Americans for Romney campaign in a press release Monday.
The group will be headed by the candidate’s son, Craig Romney, and will spearhead the campaign’s outreach to younger voters.
Despite Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) poor showing with younger voters against President Obama in the 2008 election, Sam Bain, chairman of the Ohio College Republicans and National Advisory Board member for the Leadership Team is confident that Mitt Romney will have a better showing in November.
“I’m not a fortune teller, but it is certainly possible Romney could win the youth vote,” Bain said.
But pollster Scott Rasmussen was less optimistic in a recent interview with Red Alert Politics, predicting that President Obama will capture the youth vote again this year.
“It was very generous of them. I was very humbled. As chairman of Ohio College Republicans, I feel the youth vote is particularly ripe because of the economic downturn here,” Bain said.
Ohio will be a swing state this fall that both the Romney campaign and the Obama campaign are working especially hard to win.
The Romney Leadership Team would be working very closely with the College Republicans National Committee (CRNC), according to Bain.
“They are tied into the same activities, so we will be knocking on doors right beside them,” Bain said. “The events will be tied in closely.”
Bain also hopes to attract young people into the conservative movement beyond the election.
“This is a humbling opportunity to take back our future,” Bain said. We are the ones [Millennials] who will be dealing with the economy for the next 40-50 years. Young people feel like their voices have been shut down the last three years.”
The new campaign will also reach out to young people who are already in the work force.
“We will have statewide and local chapters for Romney for young professionals, too,” said Chris Malagisi, director of the American Conservative Union’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). “We want to present Romney’s record of limited government, but we also want to present Romney the person.”
The youth vote is going to be critical, and Romney has a good chance of peeling away a significant amount of votes from President Obama, according to Malagisi.
The president’s approval rating with young voters is at 52 percent – down 14 points since 2008, and the Romney Leadership Team hopes to capitalize on this.
Millenials will be critical to this fall’s election, according to Malagisi.
“Young people will really be able to drive the message through social media,” Malagisi said.
